In a written statement, Chip Roy said “Cartels are the problem and it is time we started acting like it.”

Roy continued:

“My colleague Rep. Mark Green (R-TN) and I are asking Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to conduct a review in order to designate these specific Mexican drug cartels Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTOs).”

According to Roy, these specific factions were chosen “because of their particularly violent actions and intentional strategies to affect the political system. These cartels push for an anarchic form of government which allows them to skirt laws and push their terrorist model without any legal ramifications.”

Roy’s colleague Mark Green added,

Americans know that it is time to get tough and secure our southern border through physical barriers and better enforcement. The president is using the money Congress sent him to begin building a wall, and now we must follow up with this new designation that will empower our law enforcement agents to fight the cartels.

This is just another demonstration why border security is a must.

Indeed, cartel violence is largely the result of the U.S.’s failed Drug War policies that let drug cartels profit off of black market drug sales and Mexico’s failed governing institutions. Some policies like ending the War on Drugs are ideal, but not politically realistic in today’s environment.

Nevertheless, governments have an obligation to protect their citizens from foreign threats such as drug cartels. One of the more politically realistic solutions is the construction of a border wall.

Drug cartels are only one layer of the many problems that open borders bring.